LONG BLOG

The need for a constant online connection to SimCity is a lie. In it's current form, you need a connection in order for your city to survive (power, water, etc) by connecting to other nearby cities, but that is from design, not by necessity. Even then, it doesn't really even work. There were other ways to go, better ways of doing this. They could of easily created a singleplayer option.

The "fact" that you need to connect to EA's server to "handle" the calculation / processing load, is a bunch of bull. There's even an anonymous developer at Maxis that states this. For those that have the game, here's a fun little thing you can do. Disconnect from the internet, and watch the results. Is your city going into chaos? Is it burning to the ground? Is the traffic getting out of control? ...OK, well, all of that can happen, but it's certainly not due to the disconnect. For as much as they like to tout just how marvelous the AI is, for as much as they like to say that's the reason why you need to be connected to their "powerful" servers, it certainly leaves a lot to be desired. The AI is a complete mess, and so is their goal for control.

The Sims don't really go where they're suppose to go, they just kind of stumble their way to their destination; nor do they really do what they were designed to do. They don't drive the quickest / fastest route, they drive the closest route. They don't fight the nearest fire, they tend to all go to the same fire, or blindly drive around. The police doesn't patrol every road in a realistic pattern, they usually go down the same roads, blindly. You get the picture. The AI in this game is horrible, it's simplistic, and does not require the help of any server. It's the reason for most of the traffic problems, despite having every service in place to combat it. It's the reason why so many houses burn down, or that people get mugged or killed, that garbage get's out of control. Every Sim blindly drives / walks out into the world, and that bogs down everything in the city. There is so much that is broken in this game.

The connection is only needed to connect to the market place, and to communicate with other small cities. Outside of that, it's not needed at all. Why should we have to connect to some bogged down EA server, just to play in our tiny sandboxes? Why couldn't we have a true SimCity game that features real singleplayer? One that, instead of having to build and play multiple little cities to try and imitate a full city, could have the whole region be one major city. Can you image that? Image what you could built with that kind of power? The fun, the vast creativity at your finger tips! No need to worry about only being able to have one specialty, maybe two. Forget that noise, have it all! Big police stations, fire stations, hospitals, etc. Your city, not someone else's interpretation. Having the freedom to actually control and build your city, to be able to breathe; like the rest of the SimCity games.

It's not that I'm against the multiplayer in this game, it's because this is all the game is. The fact that you can play with others is great, and it's great that EA / Maxis wants that feature in SimCity. But the loss that comes with it, is too great. They could of had multiplayer, while also including true singleplayer in the process. Singleplayer consisting of the whole region as one major city for offline play. It would have saved EA massive trouble, money from servers, and ultimately would have provided them with more sales. For them to say otherwise, is a bunch of bs. For all you have to do, is point to evidence. It's a lie, a cover, for their DRM.

I was sadly weak enough to cave in and buy SimCity, fully knowing that this would all happen. It was too long since the last SimCity (10 years) and I really wanted to dive into this game, despite all the red flags. What a shallow pool it turned out to be. Yes, I know it was my fault for caving in and supporting this horrible DRM.